Locking means for jaw-operating lever for fastener-attaching machines



Feb. 4g,

l. E, C, DEAN I 23979 LOCKING MEANS FOR JAW-OPERATING LEVER VF'OI FASTENER-ATTACHING MACHINES Filed May 9 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet l E. c. DEAN ,795

-LOCKING MEANS FOR JAW-OPERATING-LEVER FOR FASTENER-ATTAGHING MACHINES Filed may 9, 1939 2 sheets-sheet 2 INVENTOR az/pf. J

Patented Feb. r4, 1941 LOCKING MEANS FOR JAW-OPERATING LEVER FOR FASTENER-ATTACHING MA- CHINES Earl C. Dean, Waterbury, Conn., assignor to Scovill Manufacturing Company, Waterbury, Conn., a corporation of Connectlcut Application May 9, 1939, Serial No. 272,561

8 Claims.

The present invention relates to fastener setting or attaching means of the general type disclosed in United States patent to Veillette No. 1,336,887, granted'December 15, 1931, and aims to provide certain improvements therein.

The machine of the Veillette patent was used in connection with fasteners that were selfpiercing, as for example, where a tack or selfpiercing stud was used to secure the fastenerto the securing material. .In that case after the fastener part or tack was deposited on the lower die or setting anvil during the rearward stroke of the main lever, the material was placed over the ears of the 'jaw elements and did not interfere 'with or disturb the tack because the tack point was below the top surface of the ears. vThe machine disclosed in` the Veillette patent was found unsuitable `where a pre-pierced fabric was to be used with the stud member of a fastener, the stud post of which had to first engage through the pre-pierced fabric before attach-- ment thereto, and consequently had to project above the jaws.

Where a pre-pierced fabric ywas used it was found necessary to hold the stud `element secure on the anvil during the time that the operator Wasattempting to align the hole in the material with the stud post. In this connection it must be remembered that it is during the rearward stroke ofthe main lever which carries the cam which controlsthe jaw operating lever that the fastener-element or stud is fed into position, and since the jaws must be raised in the rearward `movement of the main lever to a point above the stud holding position soas to permit the reception ofthe stud upon the eanvil, the cam carried by said lever had to have a low portion which would permit the jaw operating lever to raise the jawsto their highest position, while the cam and the main lever were moving rearwardly and the feed member was moving forwardly, and a somewhat, higher portion which would then permit said jaws to descend somewhat to expose the end of the stud post and clamp said stud. Means also had to be provided for keeping the stud clamped by precluding the jaws from again rising as the main lever was moved forwardly through its forward stroke.

Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide a machine of the character set forth wherein the jaw operating lever is rendered unresponsive to a portion of the working face of its operating cam when the latter is traveling forwardly, i. e., during its forward stroke, and then to allow said lever complete freedom of movement as controlled by the entire working face of the cam during its backward stroke.

The invention consists in the combination with a fastener-attaching machine having fastener assembling and setting elements, including a setting anvil, a setting plunger, and means for feeding fastener-parts to the anvil, of means for controlling the oscillatory movement of the jawoperating lever, as will be better understood from the detailed description which follows, when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary sectional side elevation of the head of a fastener-attaching machine illustrating the parts embodying the features of the invention, the parts shown in full lines portraying the inactive or rest position, and the dot and dash lines portraying the position assumed by said parts at the instant of completing the riveting operation.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken substantially along the plane of the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig.3 is a section taken substantiallyalong the plane of the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4-is a fractional detail view showing the relative position of the jaw-operating lever with relation to the cam block corresponding to the dot and dash position of said parts in Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a fractional front elevation of themachine showing the operative mechanism embodied in the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the cam block forming a part of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a perspective View of the trigger member forming a part of the present invention.

The machine shown in the drawings is of the full automatic fastener feed kick-01T or foot power type having a head or frame I, a bed 2, and a stand or pedestal 3 provided with the usual table 4, and other customary adjuncts. f

Arranged for vertical sliding movement in the head I is a setting plunger 5 connected by means of a rock lever 6 pivoted at 'I to a link 8, which is threaded as indicatedat 9, and provided with lock nuts I0 for adjustment of the stroke of the plunger. The link 8 is connected at II to one end of a lever arm l2 which is mounted on a shaft I3 supported in the pedestal 3, said lever arm I2 being provided with a treadle extension rod I4 for movement by the foot of an operator. Slidably mounted upon the face of the head I are a pair of holding jaws I5 of conventional type adapted to receive from a chute I6 one complemental part of the fastener to be set, said chute being fed by a hopper (not shown) in the customary manner. Downward movement is imparted to the jaws I5 by the plunger 5, and their upward movement is accomplished by means of a pin I8 in the usual manner.

Mounted upon the bed 2 is a feedway I9 comprising the customary guides which provide between them a slot of conventional type. Into said slot, fastener parts complemental to those fed to the jaws I5 are supplied through a chute 23 which communicates with a feed hopper (not shown). The slot in the feedway is provided with the usual cut-off device to insure the feed of a single element at a time to the setting anvil.

At the forward end of the bed 2 and in alignment with the slot in the feedway I9 is a setting anvil 29 which is secured to the table 4 by means of a cap screw 33 and a guide member 3l. Slidably mounted upon the anvil 29, and between the bed 2 and the guide member 3| is `a jaw-carrier 32 having a pair of jaws 33 pivotally supported on pins (not shown). These jaws are normally pressed into fastener-engaging and retaining proximity by means of a spring element 35l so that when the fastener parts, usually in the form of tacks or eyelet posts, are fed through the feedway and onto the anvil, they will be held thereon in predetermined position. In order that the jaws 33 may release the fastener parts held upon the anvil upon the descent of the plunger 5, the surfaces of the jaws in contact with the sides of the anvil are rounded so that asvthe jaw-carrier 32 is depressed, they will be lanitomatically separated and ride down the sides -of the .anvil in a 'well-known manner. The jawcarrier, and with it the jaws, are depressed in timed relation to theoperation of the punger 5 by means of a jaw-operating lever 35 which is pivoted intermediate its eri-ds, as at 3T, lto the table 4, and carries adjacent its forward end a link 38 which is connected at 39 with the jaw-carrier 32, and which lever 36 is provided at its other end with a roller 45 which rides upon a cam block ll mounted upon thelever arm I2, A handle 435' is provided at the forward end of the lever 36 whereby it may be manually operated when necessary or desirable.

Mounted for reciprocation in the slot within the feedway I9 is a push finger or feed member 42, the forward end 43 of which is shaped ina 'manner complemental to the contour of the fastener part to be fed, `and has pivoted to its rear end, `as at 44, a link 55 which extends rearwardly through an opening 46 in the head frame and is connected by means of a pin 48 which is fixed to one end of a lever 49 which is pivoted intermediate its ends, as at 56, to the table 4. The other end of the lever 49 is connected at 5I by -a link k52 with a pivotal connector 53 which is carried by the lever arm I2. The link 52 is threaded into the connector 53 and is provided with lock nuts 54 by which the stroke of the push nger or feed member d2 may be appropriately adjusted. The parts thus far described `are the same as the correspondingly numbered parts in the Veillette Patent referred to except for the connection between the link 45 and the Alever 49, the Ashape of the cam 4I, and the arbitrary angle of mounting the link 52 and connector 53 on theflever arm I2.

As ,hereinbefore pointed out in the opening statement of the specification, the cam carried by the lever arm must have a low portion which 'will permit the jaw Voperating lever 33 to raise the jaws to their highest position while the cam and lever .arm are moving rearwardly and theV feed member is moving forwardly, and a somewhat higher portion at the forward end of said cam, which higher portion will cause said jaws to descend somewhat to expose the end of the stud post and clamp the head of said stud against the anvil. Means also must be provided for keeping the stud clamped Iby precluding the jaws from again rising as the lever arm is moved forwardly through its forward stroke.

Accordingly, the cam surface on the cam block 4 I, as shown in Fig. 6, is divided into three sections, namely, :13, y, and z, the section y being lower than the other sections and the section :I: being somewhat lower than the section a.

To control the movement of the jaw operating lever 36 as above set forth, a locking mechanism is provided, consisting of a supporting block 55 attached to the inner wall of the pedestal 3 by a pair of cap screws 56, and having pivotally supported in vertical relation thereto a vertical shaft 51 which is positioned with respect to the supporting block by a collar 58 which rests upon the upper face of the block. Mounted 'on the shaft5'I to be movable therewith above the collar 58 is a trigger member 59 having a beveled guide 59a beveled downwardly on its upper face land adapted to facilitate engagement of the end of the trigger member underneath the jaw operating lever 36 near the end of the return or backstroke of the lever arm I2. At its lower end the shaft 51 has connected thereto a rocker arm 66 by means of a set screw 6I, said rocker arm having a pairof forwardly extending studs 62 and 62a which are adjustably mounted in elongated slots 63 by means of clamp nuts 64, the distance between the studs being greater than the width of the lever arm I2 disposable between the studs. The position of the rocker arm 60 and the studs 62 and 62a thereon when the machine is in starting position, is that shown in Figs. 1 to 3, wherein the foremost stud 62 is disposed some distance from the front edge of the lever arm I2 by which it is adapted to Ibe engaged and moved, said rocker arm 69 being y preferably biased toward said position by aspring65,one endofwhichisattached to the rear end of the arm 60 and the opposite end of which is anchored to the left hand pedestal 3. For normally holding the roller i3 lio in contact with the surface ofthe cam block 4I f the inner end of the jaw operating lever 36 is biased by va spring 63. A pair of springs 67 are also provided for biasing the lever arm I2 for returning said lever to starting position after it has performed a setting operation. In the start- `ing position of the lever arm I2 the effective end of trigger member 59 engages beneath the jaw operating lever 36, as shown in Fig. 2. As long as the'trigger member 59 is so positioned, it is adapted to support the lever 36 in substantially hence, as forward movement of the lever arm I2 takes place, for example, when downward pressure is applied upon the treadle connected to the treadle rod I4, the front edge of lever arm I2 will, after closing the gap between said lever arm I2 and the forward stud 32, engage said stud and moveit against the tension of spring to rotate the shaft 51 in a clockwise direction when viewed in Figs. 2 and 3. The parts are so correlated that as the roller `40 reaches the'rise be'- tween sections y and z ofthe cam block 4|, the trigger member will be 'released orwithdrawn from underneath the r-lever 36 and continued forward movement of the lever arm l2 will cause the roller d0 to ride up and over said rise in the cam block and onto :section z. As the roller 49 reaches the tcp of the rise in the cam block the stud 62 will slip from the front to the side of lever arm i2 and further movement of trigger 59 ceases. As the roller rides up and over said rise in t-he cam block the jaws 33 are depressed in synchronism with the downward movement of the plunger 5 and out of the Way of said` plunger to permit completion of the setting `oper-- ation. During that portion of the forward movement of the lever armV I2 occurring after trigger 59 has been moved from under lever 36, `the end of stud 62 will slip from in front of'arm l2 to the side face thereof and will thereafter ride along the side face of lever arm I2 without imparting further movement to trigger 59 and the end of stud 62a will have been moved to lie in back of the path of travel of the lever arm l2.

Now, as the lever arm I2 travels rearwardly, the trigger member 59 being out of engagement with the bottom face of the jaw operating lever 39 and spaced slightly from the side face thereof, the roller 40 in riding down the cam surface as it descends from section z to section y, will elevate the jaws to the position for receiving the next succeeding fastener element in place.

In the course of this rearward movement of the lever arm I2, the rocker arm 60 under the influence of spring 65 will rotate shaft 51 in a, counter-clockwise direction until the end of trigger 59 strikes the side of lever 36, after which for the time being further rotation of shaft 51 ceases. At this time the stud 62 will have been moved partly in front of lever arm I2 but is precluded from further movement for the time being by the engagement of the end of trigger 59 with the side of lever 39. The parts are so correlated that as the roller 49 negotiates the rise between sections y and :c of the cam block, rotation of shaft 51 will begin4 again due to the elevation of roller 99 permitting the beveled corner of trigger 59 to move in underneath said lever and such movement continues so that when the roller 4U moves to the top of the rise between sections y and .r and reaches section :12, the effective end of trigger member 59 will have been moved completely underneath lever 36 whereat it will function to support said lever during the major portion of the next forward stroke of the lever arm l2. As the end of trigger 59 moves underneath lever 36, the stud 62, under the influence of spring 65, moves, as hereinbefore explained, completely in front of the lever arm I2. Upon the lever arm I2 reaching its starting position it will be understood that the stud which has been received on the anvil 29 will now be clamped against said anvil by the jaws 33 with the free end of the stud post projecting abovesaid jaws. In this connection it will be appreciated that the spring will perform the function of returning the arm 69 with its trigger 59 and stud B2 to the starting position of said parts, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and it is only as a precautionary measure that the stud 62a is employed for the contingency which might arise should the spring 95 fail for any reason whatsoever. Should the spring 65 fail, it will be apparent that the stud 62a would be in back of the lever arm I2 at the end of its forward stroke and as the lever arm moves rearwardlyits rear edge will engage said stud 62a and swin'gthearm 6D and the trigger 59 back to starting position.

Itwill thus be seen that in the operation of thedevice employing the locking means disclosed, the entire cam surface consisting of the sections n2, y and e of the cam block 4I are employed when operating in' one direction, and that only a part of said cam surface is used when the cam block moves in the opposite direction.

Preferably the supporting block 55 is provided with four set screws 6B', the function for which is to properly align the block so that the shaft 51 passing therethrough will be in vertical position, the said screws B6 serving to adjustably bear against the side of the pedestal, which may not be perfectly flat or vertical.

From the foregoing detailed description it will be appreciated that the objects of the invention are accomplished in asimple and efiicient manner, with but slight changes in the constructional parts of the standard setting `or attaching machines of the type disclosed in the Veillette patent above referred to. It will accordingly be appreciated that although I have shown and described a specific embodiment of my invention, I do not wish to be limited to the details of construction disclosed, since these may be varied within engineering skill without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a fastener-attaching machine, a setting anvil having jaws, a setting plunger for cooperation with said anvil, operating means for moving the plunger and the jaws in predetermined timed relation, said operating means comprising a jaw-operating lever and a movable cam for controlling the movement of said lever, and means for holding said jaw-operating lever unresponsive to the cam during a portion of the cam movement.

2. In a fastener-attaching machine, a setting anvil having jaws, a setting plunger for cooperation with said anvil, operating means for moving the plunger and the jaws in predetermined timed relation, said operating means comprising a jaw-operating lever and a movable cam for controlling the movement of said lever, and

means for holding said jaw-operating lever unr responsive to the cam during a portion of the working stroke of the cam.

3. In a fastener-attaching machine, a setting anvil having jaws, a setting plunger for cooperation with said anvil, operating means for moving the plunger and the jaws in predetermined timed relation, said operating means comprising a jaw-operating lever and a movable cam for controlling the movement of said lever, and means for holding said jaw-operating lever unresponsive to the cam during a portion of the working stroke of the cam and allowing the movement of said lever to be controlled by the cam during the return stroke of the cam.

4. In a fastener-attaching machine, a setting anvil having jaws, a setting plunger for cooperation with said anvil, a frame carrying said anvil and plunger in predetermined relation, an

oscillatory lever arm pivoted to said frame andv adapted to impart movement to said jaws and to said plunger, a jaw-operating lever pivoted intermediate its ends to said frame and having at one end a roller, a cam carried by said lever arm and movable therewith, the roller on the jaw-operating lever being normally held in engagement with said cam, and locking means adapted during movement of the lever arm in one direction to hold the roller above a portion of the working face of the cam, and during movement of the lever arm in the opposite direction to permit `engagement of the'roller with the cam.

5. A fastener-attaching means according to claim figwherein the locking means comprises a trigger member and a rocker arm carried by an oscillatable shaft, the trigger member being adapted to engage the jaw-operating lever to hold the roller thereon out of contact with the cam, and the rocker arm having means for cooperation with the lever arm for moving the trigger member.

6. A fastener-attaching means according to claim 4, wherein the locking means comprises a trigger member and a rocker arm carried by an oscillatable shaft, the trigger member being adapted to engage the jaw-operating lever to hold the roller thereon out of contact with the cam, the rocker arm having a part for cooperation with the lever arm for moving the trigger member, and spring means biasing said rocker arm to urge the part for cooperation with the lever arm into a position in front of the lever arm for displacement by said lever arm as it is moved forwardly.

7. A fastener-attaching means according to claim 4, wherein the locking means comprises a trigger member and a rocker arm carried by an oscillatable shaft, the trigger member being adapted to engage the jaw-operating lever to hold the roller thereon out of contact with the cam, and the rocker arm having a pair of projections adapted to alternately engage in front of and to the rear of said lever arm as the latter is moved for moving the trigger member.

8. A fastener attaching means according to claim 4, wherein the locking means comprises a trigger member and a rocker arm carried by an oscillatable shaft, the trigger member being adapted to engage the jaw-operating lever to hold the roller thereon out of contact with the cam, and the rocker arm having a pair of projections adapted to alternately engage in front of and to the rear of said lever arm as the latter is moved for moving the trigger member, the projections on the rocker arm being adjustably spaced apart.

EARL C. DEAN. 

